By Lasia Kretzel

Saskatoon Police: Possible tainted drugs send 10 to hospital

Dec 20, 2014 | 2:17 PM

Saskatoon Police are warning the public about a batch of potentially deadly drugs being sold around the city after 10 people were taken to hospital with overdose symptoms, some critical, Friday night.

In all cases, police believe the people had taken cocaine or ecstasy but they do not know if all cases involved tainted drugs.
 
MD Ambulance spokesperson Troy Davies said five of the people were “in direct contact with this drug.”
 
Police do not yet know what was in the drugs that caused the bad reactions which were spread out across the city. 

Saskatoon Police spokesperson Alyson Edwards said officers were called to two of the incidents which involved boys in their teens. One was at a home while the other was driving a car with passengers when he crashed at Gray Avenue and Central Avenue. The passengers’ injuries are not known.  

EMS crews responded to the other eight incidents as regular medical emergency calls. Police were then notified by the hospitals.

“This is another case of taking something that is illegal and you really are taking your life in your hands when you do that. You just don’t know what it’s cut with,” Edwards said. 
 
Police do not know the condition of the 10 people but no deaths have been reported. 

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Edwards said it is difficult to know exactly what drugs the people took.
 
“When you’re dealing with someone who is in a medical emergency you don’t know how solid that information is,” she said.

In September two Saskatoon men died after taking fake OxyContin.

Davies recalls a similar incident years ago. 
 
“Back when I was working the street, I remember we did have a weekend where there was some bad cocaine that was on the street that was laced with something and we were seeing cardiac arrests,” hesaid.

Davies said Friday’s incidents placed an added strain on an already busy medical system.
 
“Our hospitals were already at capacity and then to add these on to our system was quite a pressure focus for us,” he said. 

Police continue to investigate and ask anyone with information to contact them.

news@panow.com 

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